How and why the German government is divided on Nord Stream 2
All the internal clashes in Germany over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The in-depth analysis of the newspaper Le Monde
One name, however, which is at the center of the news, does not appear in the 177 pages of the coalition agreement of the new German government: Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline that should carry Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea and whose existence is so controversial that no one knows when it will enter service, or even if it will ever be operational. Writes Le Monde .
Two weeks after the government investiture, the reason for such an absence is understandable: in view of the tensions that Nord Stream 2 is already causing in the team of the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it was probably prudent to keep the topic at a distance during the drafting phase. of the coalition contract.
Hostile to the project from the start, environmentalists decided to put it on the agenda in their early days of government. "At present, this pipeline cannot be approved, because it does not meet the requirements of European energy legislation and because security issues remain open," said the new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, on 12 December on the television channel. public ZDF. “From a geopolitical point of view, Nord Stream 2 is a mistake. Furthermore, all countries have always been against it, except Germany and Austria, ”said his colleague in charge of the economy, Robert Habeck, on 19 December in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
"Scholz plays the legal card"
Between these two interventions, Olaf Scholz himself spoke on the subject on December 16. From Brussels, where he was attending his first European Council, the new German Chancellor described Nord Stream 2 as a "private sector project". It is therefore not up to his government to decide whether or not to commission the project, which in any case cannot take place before the end of the certification procedure undertaken by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), he added. However, after announcing in mid-November that it was suspending proceedings due to a legal obstacle, the agency announced hours before Olaf Scholz spoke that it would not make its decision before July 2022.
In his interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 19 December, the new minister of economy said more or less the same thing as the chancellor: “The pipeline is now built. The question of its implementation remains open and must be decided according to European and German law ”. But he added an important point, referring directly to Russia's attitude and its current threats to Ukraine: “Any further military action cannot remain without serious consequences. And nothing should be ruled out "in the case of a" new violation of the integrity of the territory "of Ukraine, he said.
The difference between the position of the two green ministers and that of the Social Democratic chancellor, who already defended the project when he was finance minister and vice-chancellor of Angela Merkel, is subtle but essential. “Scholz is playing the legal card: he relies on the Network Agency and the European Commission, which allows him not to be directly involved in order not to offend the Greens. He is doing exactly what Merkel did before him: as chancellor, he supports the project, but he can't say it too strongly, because he has to position himself above the fray to keep his majority. The Greens, on the other hand, are in politics. They are in their role as junior partner in the coalition: they know they probably won't win, but they have to show their constituents that they are doing everything they can to have as much influence as possible ", analyzes a heavyweight in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which knows well the question.
At the beginning of the legislature, the game is above all political. For the Greens, who have not gotten to the halt of construction of Nord Stream 2, which was completed in the fall, the only lever now is to prevent – or at least delay – the pipeline's commissioning. “Their idea is to suggest that there is some kind of automaticity between the Russian threats to Ukraine and the arrest of Nord Stream. If there is a real aggression and violation of the borders of Ukraine, the problem is simplified for everyone, because the commissioning of Nord Stream becomes unimaginable. But if this is not the case, it will be more complicated to justify the non-commission ”, explains the leader of the SPD.
Rivalry within the government
Beyond the specific case of Nord Stream 2, what is at stake is, more fundamentally, the question of the distribution of power within the new government, particularly as regards the conduct of foreign policy. “Through Nord Stream 2, the question is: who will play the main role in shaping foreign policy? Are you the chancellor, like in Merkel's time? Or the foreign minister, as the Greens want? Between Scholz and Baerbock, there is clearly a dissonance in terms of content, but also a form of struggle for influence, ”analyzes Stefan Meister of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), a Berlin-based think tank.
“In any case, both are aware that the United States, Germany's European partners and Moscow are watching closely how the new German government is positioned. This is why Baerbock is very clear in its opposition to the project, while Scholz is more cautious and cleverly leaves all options on the table ”.
In any case, the rivalry between the two leaders is already palpable. It began on the day of the investiture of the new government, December 8, when the president of the SPD group in the Bundestag, Rolf Mützenich, declared that it was "clear", in his opinion, that foreign policy should be guided "mainly in the Chancellery" . A statement that prompted an immediate response on Twitter from Green MP Omid Nouripour, a candidate to succeed Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock as president of the Greens: “No. (…) Putting the foreign ministry in this way is an outdated logic that establishes a hierarchy between the leader and his executors. We must build a relationship of trust on the basis of the coalition contract, not erect street presidencies.
When asked about this confrontation during his first televised interview as the new chancellor, Olaf Scholz gave a diplomatic answer. "The government works collectively for our country and we also act together on European and foreign policy issues," he said, without giving the impression of engaging in a power struggle with his foreign minister, but hinting quite clearly that his autonomy would have been limited.
(Extract from the press review of eprcomunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/germania-governo-nord-stream-2/ on Sat, 25 Dec 2021 07:08:12 +0000.